September 21, 2004

A dishonest implicature

A few hours ago CBS News President Andrew Heyward put out a prepared
statement saying, "Based on what we now know, CBS News cannot prove that
the documents are authentic, which is the only acceptable journalistic
standard to justify using them in the report. We should not have used
them."

Not a false statement, yet less than candid. Human
languages are tricky that way: you can state something true and simultaneously
implicate, in the context at hand, something false. Of course
CBS News can't
prove the Killian memos are authentic. That's because they are completely obvious
fakes.
But that's what CBS still won't directly admit. Saying they "cannot prove that the documents are authentic" conversationally implies that authenticity is still a very
reasonable hypothesis but they're just having a little trouble coming up
with the solid evidence that those epistemologically truculent
bloggers in their pajamas seem to need. A dishonest implicature.
CBS News still hasn't won back my respect.